The Piano Bar
by I Live A Loveless Life
Summary: Set somewhere in the future, where everyone we know and love is grown up. Feel free to read, and see if you can catch some characters. As the title says, it takes place in a piano bar. It's a story about the employees, and their lives.
1. I could not help but notice you

The Piano Bar.

Hoagie was sitting behind his piano. It was a Saturday night, and he had been playing for hours. The bar had been quite full for a Saturday, and he had enjoyed bringing smiles to so many faces. From across the room, Ricky smiled at him. Ricky was the bartender, a friendly man, who served any drink the costumer wanted. His knowledge of drinks was amazing. He appeared to know every drink there was, and he was proud of it. He was currently cleaning the bar. The establishment had closed its doors about half an hour ago, and the only costumer left was "Chewy", who had his feet on the table, and his head against the wall. He was asleep. But then again, he was there every night. He was a retired seaman, who used to be part of a famous pirate crew, or so he told. Chewy's real name was Marcus, but because of his habit of using chewing tobacco, he had earned his nickname. He often told stories of his life at sea. Although most of his stories were so absurd, it was clear he had made them up (Like the one time he would supposedly have been hunting for a giant white sea snake), he was nonetheless good company, always in the mood for a song or joke. The waitress' were cleaning up the tables, bringing the empty glasses to Ricky. Rachel, who was blonde, worked part-time, to pay for her studies. She was talking to Ricky, who laughed, and responded to her. Her colleague was brown haired Katie. Katie had been working in the bar for a couple of years. Before that, she had a rather shady career, but she preferred not to talk about it.

As he lit a cigarette, Hoagie stretched, and looked around the room again. Besides Chewy, there was someone else that just sat in the room. His boss, and the owner of the establishment. James nodded at him, put his hat on his head, and told the rest he would be leaving. Hoagie didn't mind. James wasn't a bad boss, but he wasn't always good company. He had a strange speech problem, which caused him to stutter whenever he met someone he didn't know. Whilst Hoagie found it strange for such a man to own a café, he didn't linger on it too much. Instead, he let his thoughts go back to a couple of hours before. When he was taking a break from his piano, he had noticed a pretty girl looking at him. She had been sitting at one of the many tables, but didn't appear to be with someone. Taking a sip from his whiskey, he exhaled the smoke from his cigarette, and started playing a tune. Whilst he was playing however, he couldn't keep his eyes of the girl. She had just ordered a drink from Rachel, and was leaning back in her chair comfortably. Her dark blue blouse made a beautiful contrast to her chocolate brown skin. Her dark hair was loose, and ran down to her shoulders. He couldn't help but smile at her.

Yes, everyone in the bar had heard him play that night. But none of them mattered. He had played for her. Only for her. But now she was gone again, and he leaned back against the wall, his eyes closed. He exhaled, blowing a thin stream of smoke into the well lit room. He liked playing the piano. But that night, he had loved it.


	2. Somehow, you left my mind for a moment

It had been a long night. There had been a couple of patrons which were not very polite, and who tried to pick a fight with everyone that looked at them funny. All except Ricky. But that had a rather obvious reason. Ricky kept pouring their glasses full, just as they kept paying him for it.

It had started out rather funny. They had been drinking only slightly heavier then the other customers. They even made some funny jokes. But when one of them climbed on the piano, and started to insult the other people, it stopped being enjoying. A couple of customers had walked away, insulted and outraged. Though the two friends seemed pleased. They both sat back down at the bar, and continued to empty their vessels. By now, it was a small miracle they hadn't passed out yet. What wasn't a miracle, was that neither Rachel nor Katie came near them anymore. They didn't take kindly to their advances. So it was down to Ricky to make sure they bothered as little people as possible. That's probably also the reason why the normal cheerful Ricky looked rather grim at the time. He even managed to scare away a courting couple, who got startled by his grunts. In the end, there was no other solution.

"You're right Ricky. This is the best solution." Hoagie said, as he looked down upon the bodies of the two drunks. He and Ricky had dragged them out the back door, and into the alley that lay behind the building, after they had finally given to the sweet embrace of unconsciousness. Right now, they were laying over one another, dumped rather carelessly next to a overflowing dumpster.  
"Lets get back inside. Now I could use a drink." Hoagie nodded, and followed Ricky back inside. He sat down on a bar stool, and Ricky grabbed two glasses, and filled them with a double whiskey. They both emptied it in one gulp. "You know Rick? We don't have it that bad.. I mean, of course, we all want a big car, a helicopter, a big house, and a nice wife…" Hoagie broke off at that last word, though Ricky didn't notice. He had downed his second double whiskey, and had gone to serve the remaining customers. Although it was almost closing time, it was still rather crowded.

Hoagie payed no attention to the people around him. Instead, he stared at nothing, whilst a scene played in his head. It was of a couple of nights before. The same girl as before had sat at the exact same table. Again, he had played for her, even if she would never know about that. She had been there, listening to his music, with a smile on her face. She had been dressed in the same dark blue blouse, which he found so pretty on her. He noticed she smoked, and he wondered what brand of it was. He himself smoked a rather cheap brand, which he had done ever since he started smoking in his 15th year. By then, he had regular fights with his mother, about everything and nothing. When he left his home on his 16th, he was relieved to be away from her. She and his brother had only restricted him. Held him back. The pretty girl reminded him of something, but he could not quite say what it was. The way she inhaled from her cigarette entranced him, and refreshed him. He had never quite seen such a sight. She had a certain something over her, which he found intriguing.

But that was not all. There was one thing that confused him. Even when he thought back at it, he still found it strange. It had been at the end of the night, and most patrons had left, including the girl of his dreams. When he had gone to take a leak in the bathroom, a different woman approached him. She had curly red hair to her shoulders, wore dark sunglasses, a white tank top and a black skirt. She had motioned him to stop, and when he had done so, she walked even closer. So close he wasn't really comfortable with it. But she didn't stop. She pushed him against the wall, and pressed her lips against his. He had been stunned, and unable to move. This girl, a girl he had never even met before, and now knew her for maybe 10 seconds, was kissing him. The hall where the toilets were located lay a bit separated from the bar, and it was deserted. There was no-one else but them. She kept kissing him, for what seemed to be an eternity. It probably was less than half a minute. Then she stepped back, smiled at him, and just left. She left the hall, walked through the bar, and went out the door. Gone. He had stood there for a while, completely off his rocker. This had never occurred to him before, and it was a strange, yet somehow exciting new development in his life. His urges made him stop complementing, and send him to do what he had come there to do in the first place.

It had been a long and strange night.


End file.
